TIFU by getting the same thrifted cups as someone I know

Submitted by transcendentdanae t3_10rf1zz in tifu

Lol this is so stupid and happened today.

Any experienced thrifter could tell you which items were mass-produced in the 60’s (or whatever) because the same items turn up in about every thrift store, eventually. I’m a preschool teacher, and thrift most of the items for our classroom… shelves, trays, books, etc. I frequent the same major chain store almost weekly, as it’s around the corner from school and with a great home selection.

Several weeks ago I bought some glass cups for school, four cups each from two different sets. A few have broken, so we have five left. At some point in loading/unloading the school dishwasher, I realized the cups from each set I had just bought matched the cups of another class. I thought it was funny, but nothing more of it.

Yesterday my assistant pulled me aside to let me know the other teacher pulled her into the room, and told her to stop taking their dishes from the dishwasher, and took our cups away. My assistant felt so confused, but did not want to argue with a lead teacher. I told her not to worry, I would chat with the teacher tomorrow.

Today I go to explain the situation, and this other teacher immediately yells at me, telling me that there is no way I found the exact same cups, because she found them at Amvet’s over the summer. I told her she is welcome to keep the cups, and she continued to insist they are hers to begin with. They were so cheap I told her it was fine, I would get more. She told me there was no way I could have gotten the cups without taking them from her. She pulled them out and showed me every cup, with her name plastered in sharpie all over them. She said we’ll never be confused again now. I was shocked. I told her again I wasn’t lying, and don’t mind sharing the cups, I would buy more. She stormed out, went home, and got other glass cups she wasn’t using, then came back to school and shoved them at me. She told me not to take hers, which she purchased, for her children. Instead I could use these extras from her basement.

I was shocked. They were just plain small glass cups. It was four for like a dollar.

TL;DR I got the same thrifted cups as the teacher next door and she thinks I stole them from her. She’s super pissed.

EDIT: went to the store today and I think I found the cups! It was pretty easy. Posted a picture in comments for reference.

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Comments

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SmokinJoe31 t1_j6vojrn wrote

Find lots more the same. At 4 for a dollar, 10 dollars worth would be hilarious to just keep adding to her collection.

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Maatix t1_j6wgnom wrote

This. Buy tons of them. Use nothing but these cups.

Then ask her to stop her cups from mating - They're starting to cover the floor. "I would stop putting them there but I can't possibly be buying them, so it couldn't be me. They're your cups and only your cups."

Or, better yet, gift a set to every class. Watch her implode when EVERY class has "her cups."

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Dorians_picture t1_j6xg34i wrote

I’m prepared to donate to this GoFundMe

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Rob_Bligidy t1_j6y95ev wrote

Seriously though. If they want to act crazy, let’s drive them absolutely bonkers. I love it!

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wheatgrass_feetgrass t1_j6yyfol wrote

This is how I stay sane. Fighting someone's crazy doesn't work half the time. They bring you down to their level and beat you with experience. Sometimes you gotta just let someone get away with harmless crazy. But, if you're lucky, you can do more than that. You can join in. Lean in to their crazy, amplify it, back them into a crazy corner of their own creation. Best case scenario they actually have to feel the effects of their lunacy, and it causes them to reflect and repent. Worst case scenario you have a little fun.

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cookiecutie707 t1_j6z2sj7 wrote

Broke emergency service worker but I’ll chip in for 4 cups at least lol

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Dassiell t1_j6z8964 wrote

write her name on the bottom before gifting

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Silly_Silicon t1_j73lcrw wrote

This is hilarious. I’m imagining they have to have a meeting with their superior to discuss the problem of this teacher’s cups procreating at a ridiculous pace. There isn’t any room for other peoples dishes because her cups are everywhere, hundreds of them and it just keeps increasing. Her name is written on every single one, and as she has informed us already, there is no way anyone else could have brought these cups so they have to be hers. All we’re asking is that she starts giving her cups a contraceptive to prevent a further explosion in their population before these poor children are buried alive in cups.

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Sneakiest_Of_Sneaks t1_j7bfu6d wrote

Do this! Best way to prove you're not stealing cups, is to buy a ridiculous amount of cups

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RandoCalrissian11 t1_j6xavbw wrote

100% this is the best plan.

Go to every thrift store in the area and buy them all. Even write her name on the bottom of all of them. Slowly increase the schools population of cups. Leave them laying around random places until administrators start telling her to not leave her cups lying around.

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usedTP t1_j6xnufa wrote

Misspell her name though.

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kaeji t1_j6xygda wrote

No no no....spell her name right, then scribble it out and write your name.

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DanelleDee t1_j6xmp3z wrote

Absolutely. By any more you find, and try to scratch your initials into the bottom or something (because you can remove sharpie with alcohol, so if you label them that way she can easily remove it. Etching will still be there even if she tries to co-opt them by writing her name on them.)

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transcendentdanae OP t1_j70atue wrote

I’m sure I’ll come across more eventually, and do plan to buy them. Unfortunately they are pretty generic cups, so hard to do a Google search on. I’ll sneak a picture if I can, but might be hard. She claims she is never using the dishwasher again, since it clearly does more harm than good! If I get a picture, I certainly will post.

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Sakeandme t1_j70yays wrote

try michaels, the craft store. they have a pretty big selection of generic glassware in bulk. I bought a set of 16 votive candle glass holders there for $11. They have drinking glasses too.

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ReallyGene t1_j6ymyfg wrote

And write her name on them in handwriting that clearly isn't hers.

Keep doing this until she has hundreds of glasses.

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BroccoliPrince t1_j6vbde1 wrote

Did she not notice that "her cups" had mysteriously increased in number? Did she think they mated in the dishwasher or something?

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transcendentdanae OP t1_j6vbquv wrote

Right, that’s what I’m thinking?

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BroccoliPrince t1_j6vbxx3 wrote

Wild tbh. Keep an eye out on your thrifting adventures and see if you find any more of them to grab for a little petty vindication tbh 😂

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froglover215 t1_j6vowqd wrote

If OP finds more, she should just buy them and slowly add them to the dishwasher, a few at a time. Keep it up until there are like 50. Never say anything.

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Anakin_Sandwalker t1_j6wu6gh wrote

Double down and write her name in sharpie on the new ones as well. Try to do it exactly the same as she did so that she thinks it was, in fact, her that wrote on all these new cups.

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Dagamoth t1_j6xa9tw wrote

Slightly misspell it though just to tweak her nose.

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jiivanili t1_j6yawgg wrote

If there's an "I"in her name, replace it with a "y" on a few of them.

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coldgator t1_j6vcwsq wrote

Yes please find more and take a picture of them in the store before you buy them so she doesn't just claim you stole them from her again

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transcendentdanae OP t1_j70b68b wrote

I bought some different cups from the store yesterday, and did think to take a picture with the sticker still on… crazy times.

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golyadkin t1_j6x5zkj wrote

This other teacher is definitely going to make trouble for you, by telling her side behind your back, and probably by complaining to an administrator. People like this thrive on rumormongering and "justified" bullying.

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ProbablyNotADuck t1_j6zsotp wrote

There's no way she didn't notice this. In uni, I had the same set of dishes as a guy across the hall. One day, I noticed four of everything when I only had two. Turned out my roommates were taking our neighbour's dishes because they thought he stole them from me.

This lady for sure knows how many she bought.

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soulure t1_j6xxkpi wrote

This is the strangest part about it.

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adorbuzz t1_j6vti84 wrote

Sucks that a 'teacher' (teaching the new era) is this dumb that she can't do a how many apples do we have left if ect equation .

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Mattbl t1_j6y5byl wrote

Sucks more that teachers are spending their own money for items for their classroom.

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Avery_Thorn t1_j6wfgp6 wrote

If this actually happened recently, you probably want to talk to your school administrator about this before she does, just to make sure that they get the right facts, and to make sure that they know what’s going on.

There’s an old saying that you should never attribute to malice what stupidity can explain, but the flip side is advanced enough stupidity is indistinguishable from malice.

Going to the administrator and mentioning it will help if she goes on the warpath. Because trust me, she’ll show the names in the cups as proof and leave out the whole she wrote them on afterwards part…

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rebuildmylifenow t1_j6xe4c9 wrote

> advanced enough stupidity is indistinguishable from malice.

I like the corollary to Hanlon's Law that you proposed, but I'd say that sufficient quantity of stupidity, and an demonstrated unwillingness to learn is indistinguishable from malice.

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kagalibros t1_j6w1ipa wrote

I am mildly confused.

why the teacher buying cups for school? why glass cups for preschool?

and why is she mad over a few fuckin cups? why is everyone so stressed bout everything these days?

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transcendentdanae OP t1_j6w8xvt wrote

That’s why it’s so dumb right… to clarify, I get reimbursed for these things, and can easily buy more. Our school provides plastic and paper options, but we’ve chosen to be more environmentally aware in my classroom. We use silverware, ceramic plates, etc. Things break from time to time, but the children learn to be careful and can see natural consequence.

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Pacman_Frog t1_j6w4kdg wrote

>why the teacher buying cups for school

Public schools are extremely poorly run. 90% of them put most of their budget into sports/athletic programs and force teachers to pay out of pocket just for the ability to do their jobs correctly.

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Titariia t1_j6w5ypu wrote

Man, I wouldn't want my kids in a school that can't even afford a set of cups for a dollar, especially since public schools (I know of) usually have a small fee you have to pay at the start of the year regardless for material. Why not just use like a dollar of that to stock glasses and pencils and whatever you need in the classroom.

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transcendentdanae OP t1_j6w974j wrote

Lol don’t worry, our school really does have a lot of cups available. They provide paper and plastic options, which I choose not to use. I also get reimbursed for anything I buy, but there is a budget. I can afford the cups and more, which is why this is so particularly stupid.

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Pacman_Frog t1_j6w67v7 wrote

Because. Like I said. Public schools are poorly run. They invest everything in sports programs so they can get on TV and get more money to then reinvest into sports. Meanwhile the computer courses are teaching on Apple II's in the heyday of Windows XP/Vista.

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kagalibros t1_j6w7rvj wrote

>preschool

but its preschool, no? Or is the preschool in the US going to an age beyond 6 years? H ere in germany preschool is before 1. class elementary school and you enter elementary at age 6.

Who takes preschool sports serious?

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zorggalacticus t1_j6webla wrote

Most public schools in the US are all one big school district. Like the state budget is the same for all of them. Then it's divided up by counties, then cities and towns. The state won't allocate much budget to a preschool, and the schools they give most of the budget to spend it on sports programs. Most teachers in public schools are expected to buy their own classroom supplies. Our schools are criminally underfunded and the leadership is corrupt. If the budget were increased it'd still probably just be funneled into the sports programs. New uniforms, equipment, remodeling the gym, football field, etc.

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kagalibros t1_j6x5b7l wrote

Does nobody here read shit anymore?

PRESCHOOL!

Are 👏 you 👏 doing 👏 that 👏 for 👏preschool 👏 aswell 👏 questionmark 👏

DO YOU REALLY TAKE PRESCHOOL SPORTS SERIOUSLY BECAUSE IT INCREASES FUNDING OF PRESCHOOLS???

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ComeHellOrBongWater t1_j6xc7xq wrote

You’re the one not reading. School districts, shared budget, sport focus, no money for preschools in general.

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Muroid t1_j6xju18 wrote

There’s not a separate preschool budget. There’s just the budget for the school district.

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kagalibros t1_j6ydlhb wrote

it does not need to be seperated. or the way shared budget is used for americans fundamentaly clashes with european understanding of said shared budget.

The idea that preschool budget which is part of district wide educational budget could be affected by high school sports is foreign to us.

Our preschools also share a budget with all schools in the same district. A bigger school does get more money per child but that does not substract from another school and also more funds are allocated to schools in social flashpoints or places who have been historically worse off as well as older schools. (due to their cultural heritage value as a school) But just because the highschool next door is huge, doesnt mean that the preschool gets less funds

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kagalibros t1_j6w7mzu wrote

sorry, I knew it was the US with underpaid teachers etc.

But I figured sourcing out cups isnt a teachers job. I know they are underpaid and I heard they had to buy material like paper and stuff which are all essential to teaching.

I figured either the parents pay or the kids bring their own cup. Thats what we did for preschool in germany and we were not allowed to have glass cups.

Thats the confusion I have.

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rebuildmylifenow t1_j6xdq3h wrote

> why is everyone so stressed bout everything these days?

Seriously? Ongoing civil strife driven by grifters claiming that an election was "stolen" while offering no proof? A global pandemic? Historic levels of attacks on women, minorities, and LGBTQ+ people? An economy that is suffering from serious inflation for the first time in decades, leading to insecure employment? Long term damage from suffering from COVID? Culture wars being drummed up to a fever pitch by the right?

A better question is "Why AREN'T people more stressed, upset, and snappish?"

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nilzatron t1_j6w66e5 wrote

That's the US for you. They make underpaid teachers by basic shit the school should provide for them to do their jobs.

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Competitive-Squash78 t1_j6vzinj wrote

She absolutely knows you didn't steal them and just wanted a way to justify stealing them from you

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Scarecrow314159 t1_j6vz6mu wrote

Get new cups and demonstrate to everyone that you were falsely accused of theft, then post it on r/pettyrevenge lol

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YoggyYog t1_j6w5yzu wrote

The only reasonable solution here I see is to go get more of those cups! Cup war!

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originalsanitizer t1_j6xpwyq wrote

If you post this is r/flipping, along with a pic of the cups, i bet every flipper there would mail every cup like that they found to your school!

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bros402 t1_j6vj1se wrote

sounds like your generic preschool teacher

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nilzatron t1_j6w629y wrote

I feel like she TIFU'd by being an asshole about it.

She could have chosen to have a good ol' "figure that, eh?" laugh about it, but chose to be a dick.

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mexicanmamasita t1_j6xlf69 wrote

Why are teachers so mean to one another?! That kind of petty BS is why my family members want out of teaching. It isn’t the crappy kids or their parents, but the other teachers!

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margueritedeville t1_j6yc5i5 wrote

There is always a mean girl clique in the faculty, it seems like. I remember exactly who they were at my high school.

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LordSwright t1_j6wg6bt wrote

I'm more shocked that you have to go and buy basic things like cups for your class yourself ?!? WTF?

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bk1285 t1_j6ym5lh wrote

Must not be from America eh? American teachers have to buy a lot of things out of their own pocket as the schools do not have $$$ for things like that and other basic supplies

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Ghostglitch07 t1_j72ke6q wrote

This isn't one of those situations luckily. Op has said they get reimbursed.

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suckish_fold t1_j6wrnj1 wrote

For a teacher, you would think she would have more logical reasoning skills and the basic ability to count how many cups she has

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NeonRabbit221b t1_j6x3skw wrote

I would love some malicious compliance. Any links or pictures of the cups? I would love to send a couple dozen cups to the schools address lol

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Abdlomax t1_j6xqt8g wrote

Lots of terrible ideas here. Simple persistent communication is the answer, not clever or not-so clever tricks. Since you want more cups, do but some more. Photograph them at the thrift, and have them write the name of the item on the cups. Because you are being accused of theft, save this evidence for the principle. And be calm and matter-of-fact. The poor woman believes her own fantasy. .

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ivh016 t1_j6yirrx wrote

Jesus, she’s daft and unhinged

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plotthick t1_j6xn32i wrote

Wow, that's... unhinged. Did she experience a personal tragedy lately?

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MelodicClass7027 t1_j6y4j5w wrote

How amazing are these cups that she is so possessive of them? Do you have a picture of them and an address so people can donate any they find?

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TheStrouseShow t1_j6xhunv wrote

If you get reimbursed then there should be record that you submitted for reimbursement and she should have noticed an increase in the cup amount she had? She’s nuts. Tell the administration about this because this is not healthy behavior.

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EveDaSavage t1_j6xgm9k wrote

She’s just looking for drama. Ignore that idiot. You don’t have to explain yourself to her more than you already did

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thefonztm t1_j6xhosy wrote

Displaced anger/stress.

Unfortunately, you became part of a proverbial back-breaking straw.

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Abbhrsn t1_j732clr wrote

Take a collection from everyone on here, but hundreds of them. Be petty, you know you want to.

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planet_vagabond t1_j75mq7o wrote

Like others said, please mess with her by buying more cups and bringing them in. I'd bet you can find them online (ebay, etsy, etc.). I'd love to see a part 2 to this 😂

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MakarDeku t1_j7dvpvc wrote

how did that dummy not even realize it was 5 extra cups she took? she’s just mad someone else had the same ones lol

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Frogs4 t1_j6x1tnt wrote

Teachers have to buy classroom supplies?

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